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Parody: Men are less beautiful than they think.

By now, I'm sure everyone has seen the viral Dove beauty campaign showing that women are more beautiful than they think. In the three-minute ad, a forensic scientist draws women twice—once from their own description and once from someone else's description. By comparing the two photos, the women can see that they're overly critical of their looks and prettier than they realize.

Well, this parody video—about how men are less beautiful than they think—made me laugh out loud.
(Via NYMag)

72 comments:

My husband showed this to me - too funny! There's some truth to it as well. It's an interesting social commentary: what does it mean that we live in a society that encourages such strong self criticism in girls and just the opposite in boys?

I loved this too! I think that it's so important that we try to reverse this thought process... what would men think? And while I thought the Dove ad was so great at first, upon further inspection, it does remind us that our society is so obsessed with beauty and women. We are still, as it turns out, obsessing over physical traits with women.

Thank you for posting this! It's good to find the humor in everything! :)

This is brilliant! The film makers have a great sense of humor and the actors did a great job. How do you say "bulge" with a straight face? We all need to laugh a little more! Thanks for posting.www.whereisjune.blogspot.com

Oh yes. We watched this the other night and dies laughing! I love how after the artist reveals the drawings, one of the guys still thinks the attractive portrait is his! So bottom line--you are more beautiful than you think...but don't think you are too beautiful. Ha!

Everyone and their sister has posted the original Dove ad on Facebook, and I have resisted commenting so as not to burst anyone's bubble, but here are my thoughts -- obviously, the artist knew what the deal was, and I am guessing that, even if he wasn't TOLD specifically to make the portraits less beautiful when they women were describing themselves and more beautiful when others were describing them, he would have done it unconsciously (or consciously, who knows) anyway. And again, even if he didn't know, they should have had the women talk about themselves in the third person, because everyone knows that people are more self-critical, and that awareness might have also come through in his renderings. Finally, the fact that strangers described the women in more flattering terms does not actually mean that those strangers thought the women were more beautiful -- sorry to be harsh, but maybe they were just being nice. Let's be real for a moment -- most people aren't beautiful. Most people aren't even moderately attractive. Most people are pretty plain, and some people are ugly. Instead of trying to PRETEND that everyone is beautiful, and that we don't see ourselves (our outer selves) for who we truly are, let's just accept reality and actually spend more time focusing on things that matter more and make us better/happier/more successful people in the long run. I feel like all this emphasis on convincing every last woman on the planet that they are some gorgeous creature is ultimately self-defeating and fuels the focus on externalities that we are supposedly trying to avoid.

As for Roxy's comment, I think in a way she may be right. The artist obviously knew what the deal was and he might have just been 'following' instructions. However, in my opinion...I think there are various types of beauty.

Not every woman is physically attractive, but they may have an amazing personality. This definitely explains why suuuuper cute men, date not so cute girls.

I think every human has their own definition of beauty. According to their definition, is how they will view another human being.

For some, beauty may be a VS model, while for others, that's just being fake.

I personally want a super smart and hardworking man, instead of a cute face.

Looks will fade, but his personality characters will always prevail and that's what will truly make me happy.

Happy Tuesday!!!

As always your posts are soo unique!! I like how instead of posting what everybody already has posted, you took a different approach.

Roxy, hear hear. I totally agree. The dove ads are super pandering. I don't really like this parody, either because it's one-dimensional. It doesn't really expose the whole "looksist" culture, which it could have done. And I'm definitely sick of people using "rape" and "rapey" to be some kind of a joke. These little, trivializing things are just drops in the bucket that help to create the kind of culture that makes Steubenville happen. If anyone would like to know, the coach that lied and covered up for the students that raped the girl? His contract at the school was just renewed.

I think the Dove ads are helpful and that's the whole point. And, I think there should be a REAL project done for men, who have the same issues women. I've had several straight guy friends tell me so, and also feel strongly that the ad for women was awesome.

Thank you, Mami and Elisa. You are the first people here to point out the absurdity of this parody - when so many boys and men in this country suffer from severe eating disorders, body image issues, and regularly engage in a range of disordered eating and compulsive exercising behaviors. I don't find this funny at all and think that this kind of "parody" perpetuates a stereotype that is in no way grounded in any sort of fact.

Also, I don't know in what world "his eyes were kind of...rapey" is funny - but I find that kind of statement frankly horrific.

Now that's funny. I did watch the original Dove commercial and I thought the video had a point. I do believe that, for most women, we are are own worst critic and Dove wanted to show that. And I do that can be their best cheerleader.

So interesting! It's weird because I watched the men video first and laughed, then watched the women video and cried, then watched the men video again and laughed again! Both videos really nailed it. Sad and funny, both so true.

Mary Glenn I disagree - both not "so true". I know as many, if not more men, than women, who are critical of their appearance. SO many men the world over have significant body image issues, it's just not as widely talked about as with women.

Having said that I find the video really funny (and also find the original a bit much). Tounge in cheek is good but I wouldn't call it social commentary.

Joanna, you should read this essay. It discusses the Dove ad and how it actually reinforces stereotypical standards of beauty rather than celebrate individual beauty. http://jazzylittledrops.tumblr.com/post/48118645174/why-doves-real-beauty-sketches-video-makes-me

Joanna, you should read this essay. It discusses the Dove ad and how it actually reinforces stereotypical standards of beauty rather than celebrate individual beauty. http://jazzylittledrops.tumblr.com/post/48118645174/why-doves-real-beauty-sketches-video-makes-me

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The parody was hilarious! And I have to agree with Roxy. In the end, Dove is still focusing on our outer beauty and that's lame. I knew a girl from school who died from anorexia and would go jogging every day and she was literally a walking corpse. She would come into the coffee shop where I worked and viciously page through stacks of beauty magazines for hours...very sad. Being wrapped up in one's own vanity is never a good thing.

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